Alfie Clarke is best known for playing Arthur Thomas in ITV’s Emmerdale – but what do we know about the young actor away from the cameras and his on-screen role?

Alfie Clarke, known for his role as Arthur Thomas in Emmerdale, has been a familiar face on the popular ITV soap since 2009, when he was just two years old. His character, the son of the late Ashley Thomas (played by John Middleton) and Laurel Thomas (portrayed by Charlotte Bellamy), has been at the heart of several storylines over the years. Emmerdale fans were left gobsmacked on Thursday night (August 29) when Arthur Thomas, played by Alfie Clarke, made an unexpected comeback to the village. Arthur has been off gallivanting around Australia and as a result, missed his mum Laurel’s dramatic break up with Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson).

Jai and Laurel are on the path to divorce just months after tying the knot, following Laurel’s shock at her hubby’s actions. These included forcing biological dad Amit (Anil Goutam) to leave the village and excluding his other son, Suni Sharma (Brahmdeo Shannon Ramana), from any ownership of the HOP, transferring all shares solely to him.

Arthur was last spotted in March when his mate Heath Hope (Sebastian Dowling) tragically passed away in a car crash. Now back in Mulberry, he immediately landed himself in a sticky situation when he walked in on new couple Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham) and Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson). However, more drama is on the horizon as Arthur gets up to speed with his family’s recent happenings, leading him to confront former stepdad Jai about the stress the divorce proceedings are causing his mum Laurel.

But what about Alfie’s life off-screen? Residing in West Yorkshire, Alfie shares his home with his parents, siblings and attends a theatre school.

His mum Fiona is evidently proud of her son, often posting updates about him on social media, X in particular. Last year she shared a touching clip from Arthur’s coming out episode, which featured him spelling out “I am gay” during a game of Hangman. “Proud of my boy,” she captioned the post.

Interestingly, Alfie and his character Arthur share a close age proximity. Arthur’s character was supposedly born in August 2007, making him 15 years old. Meanwhile, Alfie was born in real life in November 2007, meaning they are only a few months apart.

A few years ago, Arthur’s onscreen father Ashley was involved in a powerful dementia storyline and passed away on screen in 2017.

In a heartwarming behind-the-scenes story, Alfie proved he’s got a huge heart to match his acting chops. At the tender age of nine, the actor who plays loveable Arthur in the hit soap took it upon himself to dive into charity work with a sponsored swim all to benefit Alzheimer’s Society, raising £5,000.

Following his aquatic adventure, proud dad Paul shared over on his JustGiving page: “Alfie completed his swim this morning at Huddersfield Leisure Centre. He managed to complete a massive 46 lengths. Thank you to everyone for your support. Alfie is thrilled to have raised so much money for the Alzheimer’s Society.”

Alfie went on to win Best Young Actor trophy from the Inside Soap Awards back in 2017, followed by Young Achiever Of The Year title at the Yorkshire Choice Awards the next year.

After taking a short breather from filming, Alfie made a comeback that had fans’ jaws dropping. Last spotted in the soap pre-2020’s pandemic-induced hiatus, Arthur returned to our screens with Alfie looking quite the grown lad time away certainly did bring a change, and viewers were all buzzing about his new look.

One viewer took to social media, commenting: “Arthur is ten years older than when he left. #emmerdale.” Another chimed in with: “Arthur looks so different #Emmerdale.” A third fan shared their amusement: “Arthur’s returned from his holibobs and suddenly thinks he’s a hardman Love it #Emmerdale.”

“Is this a new Arthur, or is it just the fringe? #Emmerdale”, one asked and yet another viewer noted: “Why does Arthur look different #emmerdale?”